That's what friends are for
by Naidoo
Summary: There has always been the trust and love of friends between them and neither has ever thought there might be more, cause there isn't. Or is there?
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: This is an idea I had quite a while ago. It is mainly fluffy-ish, there is always a tiny bit amount of angst laying beneath it but nothing too bad, I promise. Also, there will be some violence at a later stage. Nothing too major though. I just want to bring the warning out already just in case, but will say it again once we get to the chapter. I hope you enjoy it ...  
_

* * *

Derek Morgan hated surprises. Well at least when they involved his Baby Girl and were not pleasant. Like the one this morning. He was on his way to the office, making a quick stop at the coffee shop en route like every morning to get two cups of coffee. One for him and one for Penelope. He always did it, and it was by now a tradition.

Knocking on her office door, ready to enter, he stopped dead in his tracks when he saw that instead of his favorite blonde sitting there he was eye-to-eye with Kevin Lynch in front of him, and Penelope was nowhere to be seen. In fact there was no trace of her in the office at all- not her purse or coat hanging on the hook inside the door.

"Agent Morgan," Kevin Lynch said.

"Lynch," Morgan acknowledged quickly. "I was actually … um … looking for Penelope," he continued, not sure what to say actually. Fact was he didn't like Kevin Lynch much, mainly for the reason that he was dating Penelope and in Morgan's opinion was a total idiot. All the stories he had heard over the years about him from Penelope made him dislike him more with every day that went by. Lynch just wasn't a perfect fit for his Goddess and Derek had no problem telling her that as often as possible. Why she was still with him was a mystery to Morgan.

"Well, as you can see, she's not in yet," Lynch said, kinda smugly as if he had more claim to being in her office than Derek did.

Hearing that Derek turned and headed back down the hall without another word to Lynch.

"Hotch, why is Kevin Lynch in Penelope's office?" Morgan asked, once entering his superior's office. It probably looked stupid, especially since she could have just stepped out for a moment, but Lynch looked like he was settling down in there.

"He is covering for Penelope for the day," Hotch replied, looking at Morgan slightly irritated. He knew that Morgan was rather particular about Penelope but his almost blantant desperation to see her today was a little intense, even for Derek.

"Is she okay?" Morgan asked instantly, sounding concerned.

Hotch's expression didn't change much. He had seen them together over the years after all, and although it seemed rather strange in the beginning with the constant flirting and sometimes maybe a bit inappropriate way of having a conversation they all got used to it over the years. So Morgan barging in his office like that, acting like this ,was nothing he was too surprised about. Even if Derek was a little more forceful about it than usual.

"Yes, she is okay. She just asked for taking the day off. Seeing how hard she had worked over the last few weeks I thought it would be a good thing as well."

"Did she say why? I mean ... did she just needed a break or … did something happen?" Morgan was quick to ask. He couldn't blame her if she needed a break, she had been seeing, working and helping so much over the last few weeks, months even. But usually she would tell him if there was a problem.

Hotch looked up from his file again, studying Morgan for a moment, before looking back down.

"She mentioned she's having one of her migraines…" was all Hotch needed to say before Morgan was nearly flying out of the door. And _that_ he should have seen coming as well. Every time Penelope was suffering from a migraine Morgan's general mode for wanting to take care of her switched to overdrive.

He also knew he wouldn't be seeing him for the rest of this Friday again. He was on his way to Penelope and nothing could probably stop him.


	2. At Morgans

_A/: Thanks for all the kind words. Glad I could surprise you all with how quick a new story made it online. Have to warn you though, the whole story is written and done, but I might not update every night as I usually do. Mainly cause I'm home with the family and have quite a busy schedule over the next few days with friends and such..._

* * *

The moment that Hotch had mentioned Penelope having a migraine Derek left his boss' office as quickly as possible, making his way to the elevators and down to the parking lot. He knew how Penelope suffered when she had a migraine. He didn't know much about migraines but he knew she was probably having the worst kind. The kind of migraine that makes you throw up because of the pain, that makes you go insane because you can't fight it and makes it impossible for you to do anything. She didn't have them often, but when she had one bad enough for her to stay home he could only assume how bad it really was. Usually she would just take a few painkillers and go on with life.

It took him a good twenty minutes from the office to her place, getting rather lucky with the traffic at this time of day. He parked his car and flew up the stairs, using his key to her place to let himself in. The apartment was completely quiet and dark, the curtains blocking out any light that could cause pain, the TV was running, but the volume turned down that you could barely hear anything.

"Penelope?" he asked softly into the silent apartment. He wasn't sure whether she might have gone back to sleep and didn't want to wake her if she did. But the rustling of fabric told him she wasn't asleep. There was a low groan coming from her bedroom and Morgan moved slowly towards the beaded curtain, wanting to make sure she was okay.

He hated seeing his best friend like this. In pain and unable to make it better. The least he could do was see if she was okay and then play it from there.

He finally made it to her bedroom which was the same scene. Dark, no light, curtains blocking out any presence of light.

"Morgan?" he heard her soft, muffled voice, seeing her laying on the bed her head buried under several cushions.

"Baby, you okay?" he asked concerned, walking closer to the bed and sitting down, moving a few cushions out of his way until he could see her. "Hotch said you had a migraine?" he asked soft, stroking softly over her left temple.

Penelope's hand came up quickly, resting over his hand that just stroked her temple and closed her eyes again, looking as if this simple touch from her best friend brought her relief for a moment.

"I'm okay, don't worry about me," she just said, not opening her eyes or letting go of his hand. "What are you doing here?" she finally asked curious.

"I wanted to make sure you are okay and don't need anything," he simply answered.

"Shouldn't you be at work, Hot Stuff?" she questioned, removing her hand from his by now and sitting slightly up.

"Have you taken any painkillers?" Morgan asked, avoiding the question. For him it wasn't even a possibility to not be here. She wasn't too well and he would help her get better. Nothing would have kept him away from this.

She groaned again, moved out of bed and ran for the bathroom, barely able to lock the door behind her before the little she had for breakfast reappeared. There was no way on earth she would let it happen that Morgan would see her like that. Never.

Morgan in the meanwhile let out a small sigh. He never felt worse than when he felt helpless. He wished he could do something for her, make her feel better. But unfortunately with things such as migraines there wasn't much he could do. Apart from one thing…

Getting up from her bed he went looking for a bag he could put some things in, before closing it and placing it in the kitchen next to her counter, waiting for her to re-emerge from the bathroom.

He needed to wait for a good ten minutes for it to happen. Getting worried in the meantime, wondering if she was alright and maybe he should check on her she finally came out.

At first she didn't notice him standing there, with the room all dark and black it was hard to see anything really, then she noticed the bag he had at his feet. Something he definitely didn't come with. What had he planned now?

"Tell you what, Goddess, why don't you get yourself in some clothes and I take you to my place…"

She looked at him for a moment, wondering what he had planned. "I … don't know, Morgan. I seriously don't feel like going anywhere. I'll just stay in my bed and ride it out hoping that tomorrow will be bright and shiny again."

"I don't think so, Baby Girl. See? I have this nice, big bed waiting, which has your name written all over it. You can sleep it out there, while I make sure you are doing okay. I'm not letting you out of my sight for the next few days, so leave it alone," he announced, leaning forwards, displaying a smile which Penelope could make out in the darkest of all rooms.

"I'm telling you, I'm fine. I just … need to sleep it off," Penelope protested.

"So sleep it off at my place. I just want to have an eye on you, is that so bad?"

"No, Morgan, that is really sweet, but I seriously doubt that –" and further she didn't get. All of a sudden she had Morgan lifting her up, getting the bag and moving towards the door.

"Well, if you don't want to come on your own I am forced to use other measures," he mumbled, opening the door and then turning around to close it again.

"Let me down, Morgan, that is slightly ridiculous," she announced and Morgan knew she tended to get pissed when having migraines.

He needed a few good tries to lock Penelope's front door, but he managed eventually, carrying her down to his car to get her back to his place.

Getting them on the way he only needed to stop at a gas station to refuel the car and get some other things he didn't let Penelope see for now. Not that she would have cared anyway, since she was sleeping, her head resting against the window of his black SUV.

Discarding his shopping in the backseat they continued their way over to his place, where Morgan carried Penelope once more from the car to his place. And by now she felt like she had broken her leg or something. She could walk on her own, didn't need him to carry her around.

"Morgan, let me down, for Christ's sake. This is not funny anymore," she announced one last time, before he opened the door to his place, carrying her inside and upstairs towards the bedrooms. He passed the spare bedroom and went straight for the master bedroom, letting her finally gently down on the mattress once they stood in front of it.

He placed her bag next to the bed, as well as the plastic bag from the gas station, which he opened and threw a few things at her. Some painkillers, a gossip magazine and the latest issue of Cosmopolitan. Sometimes he just knew her too well.


	3. something's wrong

_A/N: I myself am luckly enough to be spared from really bad migraines, but I have a friend who has them really really really bad and she actually, as weird as it sounds, really works with what Derek does for Penelope concering food in this chapter. So it isn't entirely made up. But I guess it is not universal either. LOL_

* * *

Penelope rested her head in Morgan's soft, plush, cool cushions, hoping the coldness of them would sooth her horrible migraine a bit at least. She must have drifted off to sleep a few moments later since she woke up quickly when something cold was placed on her forehead.

Opening her eyes she saw Morgan, laying on the bed, next to her, holding an icy gel-cushion against her forehead and brushing strands of hair out of her face. His fingers stroked softly over her cheek.

She also saw a plate resting on the nightstand. With plenty of fruits piled on it. Melons, and pineapple, strawberries and other things, smiling about the fact that Morgan once more knew her better than anyone else. Few people knew that it sometimes helped to eat plenty of fruit. And only Morgan knew that on some occasions it was the exact opposite and junk food would make it better. She wouldn't be too surprised if he had a bag of greasy takeout food somewhere in the kitchen.

He noticed her stare, turned his head around and saw what she had been looking at, taking the plate in his hands and resting it in his lap. Taking a slice of melon, he held it up to her, waiting for her to take a bite.

Penelope just rolled her eyes at him. He was like _that_ again. 'Taking-care-of-her'-mode, where she wasn't allowed to do anything on her own.

"Seriously, Hot Stuff, you don't have to do this. I'm okay."

"You're right. I don't _have_ to, but I _want_ to do this, so give it a rest," he corrected her within seconds.

"But it is Friday. Shouldn't you be out and free, go on dates, meet skinny girls and find the next warm body for the night?" she asked, giggling at the last part. It was something like a running gag by now between her and Morgan, her making fun of his nightly 'adventures'.

"What do you think is more important to me? Taking care of by best friend or chasing some random chick, whose name I will have forgotten the next day already anyway?" he asked her at which she didn't answer. "And concerning that warm body," he continued, smiling down on her. "I think I have that covered," he laughed, patting her leg soundly and laughing even more when he saw her mock shocked expression.

"If I stay here, I will not take the bed," she announced, making him look curious at her. "I'll take the spare one." With that she started their general arguing about who stays where. It was strange, but whenever she stayed over at his place, he would flat out refuse to let her sleep anyplace else than his bed. What was the spare bedroom useful for when he always made her stay in his bed?

"What kind of host would I be if I would get you set up someplace else?" Morgan protested, seeing her rising slowly.

She turned towards him, looking at him for a moment. "So hypothetically … when I would stay here, where would you end up? The spare room?" she asked, knowing the answer fully well herself. After all they had been through this several million times throughout the years. This wasn't hypothetical anymore.

"I don't think so. That bed is not made for me," he laughed, referring to the size. "The couch will be my best friend for the next two days," he informed her, making her looked shocked at him.

"There is no way that I will let you sleep on the couch. I mean … this is your place. You should be able to sleep in your own bed and not be moved to the couch. I'll take the spare bedroom," Penelope protested, rising further to get out of bed.

She didn't expect Morgan to move that quickly, but all of a sudden she felt being pulled back, his strong hands wrapped softly around her wrist. "Nu-uh," he sing-sang, pulling her further down the bed again. "You stay exactly where you are, sweetheart," he pulled her down until she was laying down again, then moved over her, straddling her, moving his hands with hers above her head, to pin her down.

His head came down, stopping by her ear and for a moment Penelope thought she would pass out. "And if I have to tie you to the damn bedpost, you will stay in this bed," he whispered in her ear and Penelope felt shivers run and down her spine, although not sure why. She was longing to arch into him, and she didn't know why she would want to do that.

His head moved from her ear to face her, having just a few inches in between each other's faces and for a moment they just stared at each other, holding the other one's gaze and the only sound in the room was their breathing.

She felt him come slowly closer and closed her eyes, but all of a sudden he jerked up, rolling off her and releasing her hands, sitting by the edge of the bed all of a sudden.

"You have a TV in here, to keep you from being bored in case your magazines won't do it any longer. And you have your own bathroom, in case your migraine gets worse again and you feel a need to … um … run to the bathroom," Morgan explained with a smile on his lips. Penelope knew it was a sweet gesture, but she also knew that the reason's he gave weren't the main ones. He was just like that. Every time she stayed over he made her stay in his bed and there was no sense to start a discussion about it, she would lose it anyway. Morgan just didn't accept a 'no' when it came to things like that.

"But there is a TV downstairs in the living room and you have two more bathrooms in this house," she tried to argue. "I seriously don't need – "

"Will you just give it a rest, or I really will tie you to the damn bedpost, and just release you by Sunday and only when I think you feel better," he grinned at her and Penelope had to admit that this offer somehow sounded tempting. Being at his mercy and all, while he did god knows what to her.

What the hell was she thinking? She had a relationship, a happy one, thank you very much. No need and reason to think about Derek Morgan and tying her to a bedpost and having his … Okay, she seriously needed to call Kevin once Morgan would decide to release her from this kidnapping. Because one thing was for sure, she so needed to get laid. If she already started fantasizing about her best friend tying her to a bedpost and have his way with her something clearly was wrong with her.


	4. Comparison

_A/N: Alright, let Penelope's confusion begin. =)_

* * *

Her migraine returned during the night. She didn't know what hit her, but all off a sudden she was running for the bathroom, knocking Morgan nearly out of bed, who had been sleeping next to her. That was the compromise they had ended up agreeing on. As always. They tended to argue about who would sleep where when over at his, but ended up sleeping in the same bed at the end every time. She didn't even know why they argued anymore. It was clear that this was what they would always agree on anyway. And she liked it. She liked waking up in the middle of the night, feeling Morgan's arms wrapped around her, holding her head close to his heart, having his legs tangled with hers and sharing a certain comfort. She loved that both of them were comfortable enough with each other to end up like this and have no problem with it at all.

With Kevin she rarely ended up like that. When it came to bed antics Kevin and Morgan were complete opposites. Kevin liked his side of the bed and preferred for her to stay on hers. There was no contact between them during the night at all and sometimes she felt like she was stuck in 10 years of bad marriage already- despite him and her only dating. Morgan was all for full contact. The closer and tighter they were wrapped up in each other the better she sometimes thought. And they were only best friends.

Of course when she flew out of the bed she woke Morgan up, within seconds, not that she cared much in this very moment. Her migraine had become better during the day, probably mostly due to Morgan's intensive taking care of her. On the opposite hand, she hadn't heard much from Kevin, who left her this morning all on her own, without even a word of acknowledgment. When Morgan had told her sooner he replaced her until she as back to strength she wasn't sure what to say. She hated it if someone else than her was working on her systems or screwing up her babies.

She was just sinking down on the cold tiles of Derek's bathroom when she all of a sudden felt a warm hand stroking softly over her back and a few seconds later the man himself leaned over her, handing her a can of coke.

Taking the can she stared at it for a moment suspiciously.

"It helps settle the stomach…," he explained to her.

"Cupcake, I don't have stomach issues, it's my damn migraine that's causing all this," Penelope defended and watched how her best friend took the can from her and opened it, holding it up against her lips.

"I don't care what it is. Just … try it, baby, okay? For me? I mean it can't get any worse now, can it?" he asked, puppy eyes completing the pleading look.

Reluctantly she took the can, taking a few sips, seeing Morgan's triumphant expression. If it made him that happy.

She watched him get up and took a few more sips from the drink he handed her, before she took the hand he all of a sudden offered for helping her to get up, pulling her somehow a bit forceful and right into his arms, against his chest.

"And now I get you back into bed," he announced, smiling widely at her and making her laugh.

"Admit it, that was the whole idea all along. You getting me finally in your bed," Penelope answered back, a smile on her lips that matched his.

He stopped them for a moment and looked down on her. "Finally?" he asked astonished. "As far as I can remember Í had you in my bed for the last couple of years, not my fault you were able to resist all my tries in ravishing you."

"Maybe you just have to try harder. Or is that all you can bring?" Penelope teased, noticing Morgan's grip on her tightening. She knew she probably should make a run for her life now, before it was too late and took off, getting out of Morgan's embrace and running quickly away. Not quick enough, since Morgan leaped after her with laughter and tackled her in full flight, making them both land on the bed tangled up in each other all over again. Full contact, as always. He straddled her again, starting to let his hands roam all over her body, tickling until she laughed tears and had problems breathing.

Penelope never understood how he did it. How he made her go from feeling crappy and bad to just so wonderful and good. Just a moment ago she had her head hanging over the toilet bowl, losing the little food she had managed to take in over the last few hours, feeling like crap and wanting nothing more than to return to bed and bury herself under layers and layers of sheets and duvets and comforters. Now she felt like she never wanted to stop being silly and childish, fooling around with Morgan, her partner in crime. And it felt good. She never had anything like that with Kevin. Everything was always so serious and uptight. And when he wanted to be silly she wasn't in the mood or it was plain stupid.

Yes, things with Morgan were definitely different in a lot of ways. And maybe she should stop comparing them. Otherwise she would end up with her mind going to places it definitely shouldn't go. Like the perfection Derek Morgan was in general, all well built and sculptures, with muscles that could only be described as impressive. And he was smart, not Reid smart, but smart in his very own, very gorgeous way, knowing his way through life and to people's hearts. His way of flirting could only be described as an art. No cheesy, dumb pick-up lines. Plus he had a heart of gold. Penelope knew for a fact that the whole tough FBI agent image was just that, an image. She knew Morgan better than probably anyone and knew that Morgan was a very attractive combination of tough guy, alpha-maleness and softy. Although the later Morgan would always deny when being asked. Or maybe he was just like that to her. Not that she minded.

Kevin … was none of that. Apart from the softy, but more in a rather annoying way. She didn't mind all his ideas he had and tried to surprise her with, but what she couldn't deal with was the pissy mood he had all of a sudden when Penelope couldn't make it, or had other plans. But that was something Penelope got used to over the years. The fights between them about her being too committed to her job and the team and especially Morgan. Kevin once even went so far as to accuse that she was so committed that she would even stop in the middle of sex if the BAU needed her. Not that there was much to regret when it should need to get interrupted.


	5. Mother hen

_A/N: Sorry for the short chapter. More like a finish for 'her' part before we start 'his'_

* * *

The weekend was over sooner than either of them would have liked and Penelope had to admit Morgan taking care of her worked wonders for her. On Sunday he started the day with breakfast in bed for her, surprising her with actual freshly squeezed orange juice and croissants. When she commented on it he only looked at her for a moment, smiling and saying "Only the best for my Baby Girl," before kissing her forehead and returning back to sipping his coffee.

He wouldn't let her leave bed to go further than the bathroom and then right back to bed again the entire time she was at his place, driving Penelope slightly insane. She thought it was a rather sweet and cute gesture and she also appreciated his taking care of her, but she started comparing his behavior to one of a mother hen – a thought which made her smile actually, every time she thought about it.

He drove her home Sunday night, after she refused to stay another night. She knew her place was not on his way to work, so they would have to make a detour which wasn't just for a few minutes more and that was something she didn't want. It was already enough that he took her in for the weekend, despite her saying no and in the beginning even protesting. He already did enough for her in the two, nearly three days, she stayed with him. She didn't want to be a burden on him by now staying an additional night, making him drive to her place for her to get her work things in the morning and then continuing onwards to Quantico.

He delivered her back at her doorstep around 9pm, after he had bought her dinner as well, making it seem like he didn't want to part from her until absolutely necessary. But that was a ridiculous thought, Penelope decided. Why would he want that?

To her surprise, once back in her apartment, Kevin hadn't called just once. And actually – on second thought – she wasn't _that_ surprised. And she didn't even care, which shocked her somehow. She knew Kevin wasn't the most attentive boyfriend out there, she had after all dated him for over two years now and had several experiences first hand he wasn't, and in the beginning it hurt somehow, knowing that the other one knew she wasn't too well or something like that, but didn't even bother on checking up and seeing how she was doing after a day or two. She would never expect Morgan's treatment from anyone, and it was already slightly too much anyway, but at least a call, making sure she was getting better, would have been nice. But as said, by now, she just didn't care anymore.

"You sure you don't need anything else for the night, Goddess?" she heard Morgan coming from the door. Of course he would bring her up to her apartment, making sure it was all okay.

She turned around, nodding, before walking over to him and giving him a hug. "I'm great, thanks. And thanks for everything. Now go, be free of me and enjoy the rest of your Sunday night," she laughed.

He looked at her for a moment skeptical, seeming reluctant to going and leaving her.

"You sure?" he asked.

"Yeah," Penelope nodded. "Your duty officially ends here," she smiled at him, knowing he didn't see this as duty at all. "Now, go and be free my love."

Penelope ended up nearly pushing Morgan out of the door in the end, but not before he made sure she was aware that if she needed anything or if she was feeling another migraine coming up to call him. Yes, sometimes he was overprotective and over caring, but then again she wouldn't have him any other way.

Before she went to bed, Penelope decided on calling Kevin, making sure he was at least aware she was okay, not that he really seemed to care in the first place. But at least he couldn't complain that she didn't inform him come tomorrow. She ended up leaving a voicemail, not being able to reach him in person, but it was better than nothing after all.

The moment she hung up, she got another call, caller I.D. showing _Hot Stuff_.

"You know, I start wondering whether you are _that_ bored that you have nothing better to do," she laughed into the phone when she picked up.

"Not really, just wanted to say good night, since I forgot that before. And I hope I'll see you tomorrow morning. I have the coffee hot and waiting."

And with that he was gone again, making her smile at his last words.


	6. Morgan's turn

The coming weeks had the team in and out of the BAU constantly. They came back from one case just to get another one the next morning. Penelope spoke to them more often via phone than any other way and if it wasn't for video conferencing she might have forgotten by now how they all actually looked like. Currently they were in Washington D.C. but that didn't mean she would actually _see_ them. They were more out in the field and with local PD than back in the office.

She was just with Morgan on the phone when she heard it. And maybe she should just stop talking to Morgan in general. All the heart attacks he had caused her over the years. She heard a shot, and someone screaming in the background, moments later the line went dead, no answer, nothing.

There was panic for a moment, with her not knowing what to do. Although… with all this having happened before already once or twice, she should have had _some_ practice by now. But she didn't. Every single time she was hit by the shock and didn't know what to do or how to be rational any longer.

Before she knew it she dialed the phones of the other team members, until Emily picked up. Without even asking Emily knew already why Penelope called and was quick in trying to calm her friend down.

"Don't worry, he will be alright. It is nothing too serious," Penelope heard the other women say, but could hear from the tone of voice that she wasn't entirely telling the truth and was something hiding.

"Emily?" Penelope asked in her headset.

There was a sigh at the other end and for a moment nothing else. If it wouldn't have been for the noises in the background Penelope wouldn't have been sure if they hadn't been disconnected.

"He has been shot," Emily said next, before adding quickly: "But he's fine, no worries. He's conscious and all. It doesn't seem to have hit any major arteries or stuff like that. But I guess we need to wait to see what the doctors say."

Penelope didn't know what to say. She'd experienced _this_ often enough as well and by know should be well versed in being able to know how to deal with the situation and shock. But each time was just as shocking and horrible as the first and she couldn't deal with it any better this time for having been through it before.

"They will bring him to Georgetown University Hospital, which is closest," Emily said in a rush, but before she could even finish the sentence the line had gone dead and she knew Penelope was out of the door. Of course she would. And there wouldn't have been any way to stop her from rushing to Morgan's side.

XXXXX

"It was a grazing shot, he'll be alright," was what Hotch told her first once she made it to the hospital. And although Emily had already said he'ld be okay and now Hotch Penelope still didn't believe it until she would see Derek.

"It hit his upper arm and he will probably be staying here only for a day or two, for them to make sure he's really alright," she heard Hotch talking on.

"There was nothing that could have been done to prevent this," Rossi suddenly spoke, walking closer to Penelope.

Fact was the whole team knew how upset Penelope got when one of them got hurt, but it quadrupled with Morgan. And with Morgan's daring nature she was more often mad with him then not. But Hotch was right, there was nothing that could have been done.

"It was just a routine interview. We wanted to check on some contradictions we came across in some of the witness reports. None of us expected our witness to be the Unsub. When we got to his house, without any warning he started shooting and hit Morgan. It looked bad at first, before they realized that all the blood wasn't his but the Unsub's who was brought down and fell into Morgan," Hotch explain, hoping this would calm Penelope down a bit, which it did. Knowing that for once it wasn't Morgan's need to be the hero again, or do all on his own, was making the situation slightly better, not that she wouldn't feel any better at all until she would see the man himself.

A moment after Hotch had explained the situation a doctor stepped out, walking towards them and letting them know they could see Morgan now. He would be kept overnight for the moment. That at least was the doctor's idea. Morgan didn't necessarily agree with it. So when they all made it to his room, they saw him walking around his room, getting in his clothes, looking like he was about to leave.

"What are you doing?" Penelope asked shocked.

"I'm leaving. There is no way I'm staying here for the night. What's the sense anyway? I feel good. The bullet didn't hit me, but merely grazed me…"

"But the doctor just said they want to keep you overnight," Emily argued now as well. The whole team standing in the hospital room, looking at their colleague and friend.

"I'm not staying. I feel great. No need for me to hang around her any longer than necessary," he responded once more and Penelope was close to roll her eyes at him. She knew that her best friend didn't like hospitals, but if the doctor said he would like to keep him overnight there probably was a reason for it.

"But the doctor … said he wants to keep you. You can't just … leave," Penelope argued weakly, not sure what to say, the shock somehow in her voice.

Hotch all of a sudden stepped forward. "Morgan, the doctor hasn't released you, so I think it is better for you to stay overnight. They have reasons for wanting to keep you. You got shot at and a grazing shot is nothing you should take too lightly. "

Penelope stood, like the rest of the team behind Hotch and nodded softly. She didn't want her best friend to put himself in danger, even if it meant he just checked himself out of the hospital, against the advice of the treating doctor.

"Listen, guys, I signed the waiver of liability already, saying that I am aware of the risks and that I act against doctor's advice, but I am not staying here. If it makes you feel better call me every ten minutes on my cell or home phone. But I'm not staying," he said, putting his foot down, rising certain anger and worry about his carelessness in Penelope.

Hotch looked at Morgan for a moment, not sure what to say. The thing was he knew Morgan, he knew that if Morgan wanted his way he would get it no matter what. And there was nothing Aaron Hotchner could do about it. He might be able to order him to stay here, but it wasn't as if Morgan would have to comply with it.

"At least … have someone staying with you for a few days, making sure it all is okay."

"Honestly guys, I'm alright. I appreciate the thought and concern, but I'm fine," Morgan started, getting his bag. "You are free to check on me over the next few days, if it makes you feel better," he finished, walking towards the door. What he didn't expect was a hand holding him back, grabbing his wrist and pulling him somehow forceful back.

"Oh no, we won't," he suddenly heard Penelope's voice, which had a certain anger in it. And he should have known, had already been wondering when she would start her speech, her worry and concern. The last time something like this had happened and he put himself in danger she didn't speak to him for over a week about anything personal. He knew she suffered the most when one of them got hurt, even more than the one hurt.

"Baby Girl, I'm really o-," he started, but didn't get much further.

"I don't care," said. "I'm coming with you. There is no way on earth that I will leave you all on your own, when you discard doctor's orders," she announced and it was like an order. One Derek better not argue. She pushed him out of the door, making sure he knew exactly that there wasn't even the slightest chance for arguing about this.

The rest of the team just stood back in the now vacant hospital room, smiles on all of their faces. Yes, there was no way Derek Morgan would argue with Penelope whether or not he agreed with her staying. He simply had to accept it.

Knowing that their friend was taken care of and in good hands all of them started their way back into the office and later on home, calling Penelope to make sure Morgan really was okay. And of course he was. With his Baby Girl taking care of him how couldn't he be?


	7. at Morgan's

_A/N: To all you wonderful people, thanks so much for the nice words and reviews, alerts and fav's. They mean so much to me and keep me writing. _

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They arrived at Morgan's place within fifteen minutes, with Penelope driving, since Morgan couldn't. The graze had been hitting his shoulder, making it somewhat painful and uncomfortable in almost any position. He of course protested first, like he always did with anyone. He didn't even let Emily or JJ drive when they were out in the field. So being carted around by Penelope didn't really make him feel better at all. But she was as stubborn as he was sometimes, if not even worse, so he let her have her way. For now at least.

The hospital had given him several packs of painkillers and other things, such as bandages which he needed to change every day. Maybe having Penelope around wasn't that bad after all, he wouldn't have been able to change the bandages without help to begin with. But he wasn't a fan of her looking after him. He was a guy, a guy who took care of things, who looked after her, not the other way around. But for the moment he was set and he knew that no arguing would work with her. She would stick around for as long as she thought he would need her.

There of course was the occasional try to get Penelope to just go home and leave him, trying to convince her that she really didn't need to do this, but Penelope wasn't having any of it. She made it clear that she would stay and didn't have any intention to leave anytime soon.

Of course later that night, he received calls from everyone of the team, making sure he was okay and that Penelope wasn't close to go after him. They all knew how Morgan could be in situations like that.

"Don't you have some place else to be, momma? Like with your boyfriend for example? It's not that I don't appreciate you being here, but you don't have to stop your life because of me," he went on once again.

She just gave him a look that told him to shut up and give it a rest, before leaving him alone in his bedroom, going downstairs to get some food sorted. He just didn't get it. Of course she would be here, she was his best friend. And he was always there for her, whenever she needed help, or when she needed someone to talk to, or just needed taking care of, he was always there. She most of the time didn't even ask, he simply was there. So of course she'd return the favor every chance she had. And Kevin could be without her for a few days. He would be over at some of his dorky friends for the night anyway, watching some game she couldn't care less and having one of his general 'guy nights'.

She would call him later, or maybe tomorrow, let him know where she was and what she as doing, just to keep him in the loop and that he wouldn't end up complaining she didn't tell him anything. Penelope knew already anyway that she would do better to make that call early in the morning and simply leave a voicemail, avoiding actually talking to Kevin, who would start complaining again probably the moment she would just mention 'Morgan'. In his opinion they spent way too much time with each other already anyway. So when she would tell him now he was shot and she took care of him, that would just feed Kevin's paranoia unnecessarily and would create not needed drama for Penelope.

Kevin was already rather unhappy with all the nights out, the movie nights, the dinners and drinks with the team, the never-ending hours Penelope seemed to have on certain days and her dedication to the BAU in general.

"It's unhealthy," he used to start their discussions.

"What is?" Penelope'd ask back confused, before realizing where this would be heading again.

"Your relationship with Derek Morgan. You already see each other every day when they are in, talk to each other several times during the day when they are on a case. He calls you at night to say 'good night' and calls you in the morning, or anytime in between to say 'good morning' and wish you a great day. What kind of friend does that? It is like … an obsession," Kevin would always argue, never seeming to get tired of that topic.

"A friend, who is concerned and thinks about you, I guess," Penelope replied, but usually not getting anywhere.

Kevin had his point of view and would usually not back down. In his opinion Morgan was way too focused on his girlfriend, something that needed to change. But it didn't matter how often he complained to Penelope about it, how often he wondered why they needed to have all their night outs and movie night and all that, she would never take him with her. Not once.

The only thing she took him to were the drinks they went out on when the team came back from another case, or were in town in general. But Kevin rather often stood her up when it came to these. He didn't seem to get along too well with most of the team to begin with. He described Emily as a rather cold person, Rossi as too distant, Hotch as too stoic – although Penelope still didn't understand how this could be seen as bad - and Morgan, well, Morgan he never liked to begin with for rather obvious reasons. Reid he described as too weird for him, with all that knowledge and the social awkwardness – look who was talking. The only person on the team Kevin Lynch couldn't say anything bad about was JJ. But it wasn't as if they got along rather well, since in that case JJ was the one that had the problem with Lynch. So Penelope taking Kevin with her on these nights out stopped rather soon as well. After all these nights out were supposed to help unwind and not to create more drama.

"No, I don't," she finally replied to Morgan. "And anyway, when it comes to who might need me more urgently tonight, it's you who's winning. Hands down. So give it a rest and let me take care of you for once…" she announced, realizing way too late this somehow came out slightly wrong. But maybe he didn't even notice. Turning around to face him Penelope was met with a huge grin, telling her he took it _exactly _the wrong way.

Throwing a cushion at him, telling him to get his mind out of the gutter she got up, deciding to maybe start on finding some edible things for dinner. Or maybe a takeout menu. Whatever crossed her way first.


	8. The bandage problem

_A/N: Lets add some heat and confusion for our poor Penelope... Thanks for the reviews and the support. It really means a lot to me.  
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The first task of the morning was to change Morgan's bandages, which turned out to be more of a challenge then she would have thought.

"I honestly can do this on my own," he would protest, looking at her, as if daring her.

"Oh yeah, I wanna see how you do that. Because I personally don't know how you can possibly be able to change that piece of bandage with just one arm," she argued back, knowing she was right, but also knowing there was no way he would admit that. Ever.

They stared at each other for a moment, seeing who would give up sooner. In the end she won.

"So how do you want to do this then?" Morgan asked, still laying on the bed, not sure what she had in mind in regards of changing the bandages.

"Well, first we will remove the old ones," she explained, "then you can take a shower or whatever and then we add fresh bandages. That way I can as well take a look at the wound and see if it all looks good and is healing how it is supposed to heal."

Morgan looked at his best friend for a moment skeptical. "Last time I checked you were our tech kitten, gorgeous. When did you upgrade to nurse?" he asked curious, wondering whether she really knew what she was doing.

"All the things you don't know about me could fill books, handsome. But don't worry, Nurse Penelope will take good care of you," she smiled at him, pulling him up from the bed, in a sitting position.

Truth was she had no real idea what she was doing. When Morgan decided on leaving the hospital yesterday against doctor's advice she had googled tons of sites late last night, trying to get as many information as possible on how to do things like that, what looked normal and what would cause reason for concern.

"Do you also have a uniform to wear?" he asked with a wicked grin, at which Penelope just rolled her eyes and slapped him playfully.

"Get your mind out of the gutter, Hot Stuff," she reprimanded him, motioning with her hands for him to lose the shirt, which he did without much protesting.

For a moment she cursed herself. The image of soft, dark skin, of a well muscled and toned chest and those massive biceps' made her knees go weak for a moment. But why? He was her best friend and the last thing she should be doing was drooling over his perfection. Also she had a boyfriend. And was in a happy relationship.

"You alright, momma?" she all of a sudden heard his voice coming, snapping her back into reality.

"I'm fine, just … got sidetracked for a moment," she smiled at him, while her fingers traced softly the skin around the band aids and bandages. Slowly she started peeling at the first corner and lifted the white cloth of her best friend's skin.

Morgan kept talking all the time about one thing or another and soon Penelope had to realize that the center of the bandage was sticking to her best friend's wound and couldn't be removed that easily.

"Just … pull tightly. I'll be alright," he answered manly, once he noticed she had issues removing it.

'Of course,' Penelope thought to herself.

"I'm not going to pull this off, probably I will end up damaging this more again than anything else," Penelope protested, thinking of what else she could so.

"So, do you want me to just sit around then until it falls off all by itself?" he asked with a grin, getting Penelope close to hitting him again.

"No smart ass, I don't. Just give me a minute," she replied, thinking what to do best. A second later she pulled him up, dragging him with her to wherever they were going. The bathroom, as it turned out just a moment later.

Turning the water on, she shoved Morgan gently in the shower, with her close on his heels.

"You know, you could have just said the words and I would have had been all wet and naked for you within seconds. Instead you misuse my injury for your advantage," he looked at her, a pout on his lips and for a moment the weakness in her knees from earlier returned. What was wrong with her?

"Oh, trust me, sugar, you wouldn't be able to handle me, if I _would_ have asked you," she smiled innocently at him, placing him further under the spray of warm water, getting the bandaging soaked properly.

Morgan at this moment couldn't have cared less whether he was shot or not, his mind was occupied with way more important things. Like the Blonde that was standing in front of him, whose black shirt was soaking wet and clinging to every curve of her body so perfectly, water running down her arms and legs, thighs - at least the part that wasn't covered by her shorts - and her hair slowly starting to stick to her head. Never had he seen a more perfect picture.

Penelope stepped further into his space and for a moment he thought his heart stopped, she stepped closer again, having both her hands now on the bandages and pulling ever so slowly and softly, careful to not cause any pain to her friend until she had it off completely, throwing it to the floor and letting her hands stroke softly over the now exposed skin, rubbing it softly to rid it from any remains and clean the skin and wound. With still some slight resistance coming when she pulled, she knew it couldn't be completely painless, but Morgan didn't even flinch once, just standing there, looking at her, making her nervous actually.

And why images of him pressing her against the wall of this shower and taking her lips in a desperate and passionate kiss all of a sudden emerged when looking at him was beyond her. What was going on with her? First that feeling of her knees going weak, and now she was fantasizing. Fantasizing about a guy she quite possibly couldn't have and wouldn't want to have either. She was in a relationship. And she sure as hell was not the kind of person that would cheat on someone.

Making sure everything was as clean as she wanted it she left the shower rather quickly, leaving a trail of water behind her and grabbing a towel on her way out of the bathroom. She needed space for a moment, space between him and her. Something certainly was going on, something she couldn't wrap her mind around or explain. Getting all the stuff the hospital gave him from the kitchen would certainly give her enough space for the moment. And also something to do.

Reentering his bedroom just a few moments later, she wasn't too surprised to find him sitting on the bed again, smiling at her and wearing a towel around his hips. Hopefully he was wearing something else below the towel, Penelope hoped.

"And here I thought you would have abandoned your patient," he smiled his trademark grin at her.

"I would never," she replied, tossing the bag from the hospital next to him on the bed, before walking back into the bathroom and getting another towel.

She speckled the skin around the wound with the towel until she was certain it was dry enough, before working on getting the wound all bandaged up again, trying to remember all the steps she read online last night. She needed to use some anti-septic stuff, which smelled horrible and also looked not much better, getting a few sharp intakes of air from her best friend, before she could start on the actual bandage. It took her a few tries since the first ones wouldn't be sitting tight in place, but after a good ten minutes she had it all done, looking at her 'masterpiece' with a bit of pride, before packing up all the remains, putting them away for tomorrow.

How long did it take again for a graze to fully heal? And maybe she should ask Emily or JJ to take turns. That would make a lot of things easier. And she still hadn't called Kevin. Not that she could now, not in this state of mind. From tomorrow on she should maybe start wearing gloves when patching Morgan up, since every time she was touching him now was feeling like there were little sparks between them.

So first weak knees, then drooling and drifting of, followed by fantasizing and now sparks when touching him. She really needed to get laid again. The sooner, the better.


	9. spend the night with me

_A/: Told you there might be hickups in posting. i made it back to Ireland last night, so I should be able to post more or less regulary again. More or less. =)_

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It would take another two weeks for the wound to be healed well enough so Morgan could be declared fit to travel again, with Penelope staying with him of the majority, making sure the bandages were changed properly. They had a lot of fun during these two weeks, with Penelope literally moving in with Morgan during this time.

Every day she made him stop at her place on their way back from work to grab a thing or two and then head back to his. Penelope tried to have him relax in the beginning, to sit back and don't do anything really, but with Derek Morgan that was never that easy. He was someone who needed to do something constantly, so no matter how much she protested, he would cook for them, take Clooney out or other things, just to be busy. Derek Morgan didn't seem to know the understanding of how to slow down or just do nothing at all for a while.

Of course after such a long time with Morgan Kevin went more or less ballistic. He just couldn't understand why she needed to be the one staying with Morgan or why anyone needed to stay with him at all. Every try from her to explain to Kevin the exact details as to why someone needed to be with Morgan were flat out ignored from Kevin's side. Okay, maybe he had a point, because technically they didn't need to _stay overnight_ with him, but then again Penelope was his best friend, so she saw it as her duty to take care of him. And driving to his place every day and back just was a waste of time in her opinion. Not that this was something she would have told Kevin. She knew he would have probably insisted on it.

After a while his constant jealousy was something that started to drive her insane. In the beginning it was kind of cute. It showed affection and she found it kind of flattering, but by now, when she basically had to explain herself more or less every single minute of her day to him it had started annoying her. The constant lack of trust made her wonder. Penelope knew that it wasn't entirely lack of trust. Kevin's issues that he lacked certain looks when compared to Morgan were probably understandable, but it wasn't as if Penelope gave him any reason to think she would prefer Morgan to him. She honestly didn't care that Kevin would never be a stud in the same league with Morgan. She wasn't that shallow. She loved Kevin for who he was and not for how he looked like, although that love lately had decreased. It wasn't that she didn't love him anymore, she had just started getting rather frustrated.

To pour oil on troubled water she decided on having a night out with Kevin, just the two of them- no phones, no interruptions, no anything. They hadn't been on a date since quite a while and it might be a nice change. A nice restaurant, maybe a movie, some quality time – that kind of thing. Something as it turned out that was not really for Kevin Lynch, who looked at her strangely when she suggested a night out.

"Why a night out? Can we just not order a pizza, rent some movies and chill out at your place?" was his question, which caught Penelope by surprise. She hadn't expected after all the drama lately that she actually had to convince her boyfriend to go on a date.

"Um … well, I just thought it might be nice, you know? You and me, spending some time together…" she tried to reply.

She found it hard to believe that she really had to explain to her boyfriend that she thought of a night out as romantic. Whereas he seemed set with the idea of domestic bliss, which wasn't as blissful as he always made it sound. It started with them arguing about which movies to take, since his and her taste in these things were millions of miles apart. He was fan of horror movies- horrible, blood and gore fests without any real storyline, just a never ending massacre of death. Something she was terrified of.

She saw enough of the real life version of that stuff in her job all day long. No need to bring it into her living room now as well.

Penelope was instead a fan of almost anything that promised a few hours of laughter and maybe a few tears as well every now and then. The more peaceful the better. They rarely could find a compromise and when someone decided to step down it was usually her. That was one of the reasons she stopped movie night with him.

Another one were their eating habits. Kevin loved to order pizza, she was more fan of Chinese. Which itself wouldn't be a problem, if Kevin wouldn't decide always, every single time, that he actually preferred her Chinese much more and left her with his pizza, which was usually having all sort of toppings Penelope didn't eat and didn't like. It seemed like a constant fight sometimes, but she put up with it all, deciding that maybe she was just too picky. For sure other couples had similar problems like them. Especially when she read the newest editions of Cosmopolitan and such and found herself proven right.

No couple was perfect, and a relationship after all was a balancing out of each other's strengths and weaknesses.

On the other hand movie nights with Morgan were like a piece of cake. They seemed to share the exact taste in movies. It had happened several times already that when splitting up to find a few movies to watch they would usually end up with exactly the ones the other one had picked out as well. When it came to food he knew her by now so well, that he could order for her without even asking her and always getting her preferences right.

Penelope wondered whether Morgan's girlfriends had to actually put up such a fight as well when trying to get a date night planned. But then again, Morgan didn't have girlfriends. He has conquests and flings, hook ups and booty calls, but none of them qualified close enough to being called 'girlfriend'. Usually they didn't manage to stick around long enough to even make it past 'one night stand' or 'strings free sex'.

"Okay, if you really want to go out, how does Wednesday sound?" Kevin all of a sudden proposed to Penelope over lunch.

The way he said it made it sound to Penelope more like a duty than an actual activity that he wanted to do and was looking forward to. And that wasn't something she wanted either. She didn't want to force herself on him. Penelope just thought it would be a good idea, especially since their actual night out had been months ago.

"Kevin," she sighed, resigning once again, "if you don't want to go, then we can just … forget about it. I just thought, given that we didn't have spent much time with each other lately it would be a nice idea."

"No, you want a night out we go. Just pick a restaurant and tell me when to be there…," he said, when turning around, halfway out of the door already. And great, now she felt like she was a burden for suggesting it in the first place.

After lunch she decided on researching some restaurants around her neighborhood, looking up newly opened places and seeing if any of them perked her interest. After all he told her to pick the restaurant.

"What are you up to, Gorgeous?" she all of a sudden heard a voice coming from behind, a moment later she felt hands on her shoulder. Looking up she saw Morgan smiling down on her.

He had been chained to his desk from Hotch, until he was cleared for travel and working in the field again, which was only a matter of a few more days. He had been rather bored lately and spent more time with Penelope then doing anything else. A definite advantage in her and his eyes.

"Just … browsing some restaurants. Kevin and I have a date night coming up," she smiled sweetly at him. No need to let him know it was more her idea and him more or less tagging along reluctantly than a real 'date night'.

"Lynch taking you out?" Morgan asked, seeming a bit surprised. When Penelope only nodded, he smiled at her. "Good for you. A woman like you deserves to be taken out as often as possible, which actually brings me also to why I came here."

"You mean, apart from checking me out?" she asked, with a grin all over her face. She didn't miss the look he gave her earlier this morning when he brought her the coffee he always bought on his way into the office.

"Hey, if you don't want people looking don't dress like that," he winked playfully, making her laugh once more. It had been quite a while with anyone actually noticing. The least of all Kevin. Some days she wondered if he even looked at her at all, nevertheless cared if she decided on dressing a bit more risqué or sexier.

"What is it that I can help you with?" she decided on ignoring his comment, bringing the topic back to what he actually came for.

"Right," he smiled, turned her chair around, so she was facing him. "I thought I take you out for dinner on Thursday or so. For having taken so good care of me."

"Morgan you really don't have to. I'm your friend. The last thing you have to do is repaying me for being there…" she started, when being interrupted by his fingers on her lips.

"Well, glad that I don't have to then, since I actually _want_ to take you out. It will be fun. I'll leave the choice in restaurant to you. You tell me where I need to be and I will show you a great time," he announced, and despite using some of the same words Kevin had earlier she certainly didn't feel like he saw this as some duty.

"Tell you what, handsome. Why don't you pick the restaurant? Surprise me," she announced laughing all of a sudden, making him look at her for a moment, before he shrugged his shoulders happily.

"Alright then, I pick the restaurant and pick you up from home on Thursday. How does that sound?" he asked, getting a smile and a nod from her as answer.

With that he left her office, returning back to his desk, wondering to what place he should possibly take her and Penelope returned to her task at hand in finding a new little, cozy restaurant to take her boyfriend to.

If he didn't feel romantic then she would just have to create the atmosphere for bringing such feeling out in him. It was a challenge Penelope wasn't afraid to step up to. And succeed. Come what may.


	10. Date night

_A/N: YOu have no idea how much it made me smile to see that people actually got what I was going for. That Morgan and Lynch are basically very different in their approach and 'boyfriend-quality'. Thank you soooooo much.._.

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By Wednesday Penelope had decided to go for a newly opened Italian restaurant just around the corner from where she lived. It had been forever since she last had real, freshly prepared Italian. The frozen pizzas in the supermarket didn't count and neither did the take out Kevin always ordered. She decided since her boyfriend was all over Italian every time they ordered in that this might be a good compromise.

Meeting him in front of the restaurant he looked anything but pleased. When he had told her that he would meet her in front, rather than pick her up when he had to drive directly by her place in order to get from his place to this restaurant, Penelope had to admit that she was slightly disappointed. But in the end she had decided that she wouldn't let this spoil the night.

She had spent a good two hours dressing up and getting ready, but seeing Kevin Lynch standing now in front of her dressed in some ripped jeans and a dirty shirt she started wondering why she put so much effort in. It didn't seem like he had put so much as the slightest thought into what he was wearing tonight.

"You are late," was all he remarked when she came closer to him.

No 'hello, baby' or 'you look good' or anything like that at all. In fact he actually looked like he really didn't want to be here tonight.

He entered the restaurant before her, storming in as if he was about to starve to death and then waited impatiently in front of the maitre d' making Penelope wonder what gave her the idea that 'date night' would be such a good idea in the first place.

They were seated and only a moment later Kevin went on about the food, seeming to not be able to find anything on the menu that he would actually accept. There was too much of everything in it. Like nothing could really satisfy tonight. And for a moment Penelope wondered whether he did this on purpose.

It was a wonderful restaurant, with an open outside seating area, under the sky, with a cool breeze of fresh air giving it a wonderful atmosphere. There was a violinist playing in the corner and the candles on the table with the torches on the borders of the sitting area gave the only source of light.

After what seemed like arguing with himself for quite a while Kevin decided on going with a pizza- his usual. It made Penelope wonder what it would take to break this habit. Here they were, sitting in this really gorgeous place, within the perfect setting for a great date and her boyfriend was ordering a meatballs pizza – which they actually didn't serve but he simply created. Penelope found herself surprised that he didn't order a beer to go with that. Only a second after that thought occurred, she heard him order one. Maybe the challenge was just too much to get done.

When Penelope and Kevin started dating it was all great, not perfect, not amazing, more like average, but still great. Now they were at some 'co-existing' level, where Kevin seemed to take things more or less for granted and didn't even seem to bother or try to put an effort in things. Like tonight. People passing them must have thought this was the strangest couple they ever saw, with her slightly polished and dressed up, looking ready for a great date and him, looking like he just rolled out of bed, threw one some random clothes and met her here.

She officially had to admit defeat when Kevin started flirting with their waitress right in front of Penelope's own eyes, trying to get some sort of discount on their meal. It was that point that Penelope decided that although she would have liked for her boyfriend to pick up the check, she would just pay herself and save herself from any further embarrassment.

Maybe he had just a bad day and that was the whole reason he acted so out of line tonight. And maybe she should stop finding excuses for his behavior. It wasn't her job to make excuses for how he was. That was actually his.

XXXXX

The team had still been out on a case, but Morgan was left behind, manning his desk until the doctors assigned him fully back to field work again. Penelope knew he was already counting the minutes. She knew how much he hated to be stuck in the office, doing paperwork and nothing else all day long.

"Hey, pretty momma, we still on for tonight?" she heard him already from afar, walking into her lair and making her smile. After last night's horror date night it was the first real smile she actually had on her lips.

"Nothing could keep me away from it," she turned around in her chair, facing him. "You decided on the restaurant?" she asked expectantly, at which he smiled brilliantly at her for a while.

"Yeah, yeah I did," he answered after a while. "I will get the details to you. How does 8 sound?" Morgan asked and made a few steps closer towards Penelope.

"8 sounds perfect. Just make sure you let me know soon enough where I'm meeting you. So that you won't have to wait too long," she smiled back.

He made the last few steps that kept him away from her. "I have a feeling it would be worth the wait," he replied, bending slowly forward, before pressing his lips against her forehead, before walking back outside. He would be finding his way into hery office a few more times that day, but never longer than just a few moments.

XXX

It was getting on 7, and Penelope still hadn't heard anything from Morgan. He had said that he would send her instructions an hour before they would meet. God knows where he would be taking her.

She was already ready dressed, a little less dressed up than last night, waiting for word from him when all of a sudden there was a knock on her front door. Surprised and not expecting anyone she walked to open, being even more surprised to see Morgan standing there.

"I … um … what are you doing here?" she asked, with a bit of a laugh, looking at him curiously. She wasn't entirely sure what was going on , but nevertheless stepped aside, letting him come inside.

"Well, I'm here to pick you up, gorgeous. By the way, you look amazing," he said passing her slowly.

"But I thought we would meet in front of the restaurant, to which you wanted to send me instructions," she replied, still slightly confused.

"Yeah, well …I lied. I had planned on picking you up all along, but I know you and you love putting up a fight when I offer to pick you up, so… I decided on going the easy route and just be here. That way you can't say no," he grinned at her, and Penelope slowly started to relax. This was definitely an interesting start to their dinner.


	11. Morgan's date

"It might … um … take another moment or two," Penelope replied, closing the door and walking back into the bedroom.

Truth was that actually she had been ready, but one look at Morgan, looking like he just stepped of a shot for GQ – basically the way he always looked – made her feel like she needed to change a thing or two. Maybe she should bring back last night's dress. The one that she had thought was great but didn't get much of any reaction out of her boyfriend. She felt like she had been overdressed last night, with Kevin looking like … his usual self. But with Morgan it actually would fit perfectly and didn't seem too much.

"Take all the time you need, Goddess. We have plenty of time," she heard Morgan calling after her.

Twenty minutes and a complete change of outfit later she re-emerged from the bedroom. It took a lot longer then she had thought, but one look at Morgan and she knew he didn't mind at all. He looked towards her when he heard her coming back, smiling and turning back towards the magazine he had been going through just to look back at her, as if he wanted to check something. He seemed surprised for a moment, before a huge smile appeared on his lips, he got up and walking towards Penelope.

"You ready to go then?" he asked softly, walking around her once. And Penelope could _feel_ his eyes travelling up and down her body.

Helping her into her coat and holding the door open for her, they finally left her apartment, on their way to whatever restaurant had picked out for them. So far she still didn't know where they would be heading, Morgan wasn't really too talkative when it came to their destination, but it wasn't as if she had to wait too long to find out. Within a short drive he pulled the car up in front of a place that left Penelope surprised for a moment.

"You alright, Baby Girl?" Morgan asked, when he noticed the expression on his best friend's face.

"I'm … yeah, I'm just … I was here last night actually," she smiled at him, taking his hand he offered to help her out of the car.

"Were you?" Morgan asked, looking surprised now as well. "I hope it is a great place then. Otherwise we could always … um … go someplace else."

"Oh no, the restaurant is great, no worries. I just … wasn't expecting to come back so soon," she replied quickly, walking with him towards the entry.

Morgan held open all doors for her, letting her walk in first, took care of her coat and was just all sweet all evening long.

The maitre d' was exactly the same as last night, and when seeing Penelope had a weird expression on his face. He probably thought now God knows what about her. Not that she really cared. But one look at Morgan and the guy suddenly smiled, looking at her and nodding his head towards her, the smile still on his lips. _What the …?_

They were seated at exactly the same table as Penelope and Kevin had been the night before and even the waitress was the same.

Morgan ordered wine, a whole bottle actually. That was the first thing that surprised Penelope. Her best friend usually wasn't much of a wine drinker, not as much of a fan as she was at least. The next thing was that Morgan actually ordered by name, and not my number, like Kevin had last night. Morgan's pronunciation was probably way off, but at least he tried instead of throwing random numbers at the waitress.

When the food arrived they did what they always do when eating together. They shared, took a few tastes from each other's plates and Penelope had to realize that Morgan's choice was somehow better than hers. It wasn't as if she didn't like her food at all. It just had a few things in it she didn't particularly like and which weren't mentioned in the menu. Not that it was any big deal or drama. It still tasted fantastic.

"You okay? You have a somehow funky look on your face," Morgan asked, of course picking up on the little fight with herself.

"Yeah, I just … realized they put anchovies in my food…"

"You don't like anchovies," Morgan quickly mentioned, as if she didn't know that herself, something that made her laugh.

A moment later she saw Morgan reaching over the table, picking up his and her plate and exchanging them, so he had now her food in front of him and she had his. The surprised look he got from his best friend probed him to explain.

"Well, I don't have problems with anchovies, at least not as much as you have and you seemed to like my food a lot better anyway. So we just swap. No big deal," he simply stated and she was about to protest, when he hold up his hand.

"Don't even try it, Baby Girl," he smiled at her, before continuing eating.

The evening went on what seemed forever. In the end, they managed to get through two and a half wine bottles between the two of them and Morgan probably was in no condition to drive at all.

They had been talking and laughing all evening. Sometimes some of the waitresses would occasionally interrupt- bringing another bottle of wine and just to get his attention in general. It wasn't in any brash, rude way though. After so many years of being friends with Morgan and going out quite a couple of times she was used to the female attention he got. But Morgan, never before, not now ever shifted his attention to anyone than her. It was like she was the only person around. He did acknowledge the presence of others, but his eyes never left hers, or if they did just for a few mere moments. Just like tonight. He was polite and sweet with them, but there was no comparison of how he was with Penelope. It was a whole different thing. There was no flirting with the waitress, like Kevin did last night, and Morgan in general seemed to be more 'annoyed' about the constant attention than Penelope.

When he requested the bill it was probably way past midnight and they were one of the last people in the restaurant. He signed the receipt for the credit card and what she could see added a pretty hefty tip as well.

"I guess I'll walk you back and then call myself a cab from your place," Morgan announced, holding the door open for her to leave the restaurant.

"Oh no, you won't," Penelope protested, moving a bit closer into Morgan, who had his arm around her shoulder. "How will you make it from your place to work tomorrow?" she asked, with a curious expression. "You stay at my place, and nothing will make me change my mind. That way you can just walk over here in the morning and get your car to work. You still have a few things at my place from the last time you stayed over, so that way you don't have to get back home before work," she decided, making it really sound as if Morgan wouldn't be allowed to have a say in this. Not that he really wanted. "And don't worry handsome, I'll let you repay me," she smiled at him, getting a grin from him in response.

"Oh, I hope it turns out to be as dirty, kinky and naughty as you just made it sound," he laughed at her, feeling her elbow playfully being softly piled into his side.

"Ouch," he announced, lying. That didn't hurt at all, but he went with it nevertheless. Looking at her glowing expression, Morgan k new she knew as well that she didn't seriously hurt him at all.

"Serves you right," she announced, running all of a sudden ahead of him, a smile on her face. That night definitely turned out completely different than what she had expected it to be.


	12. Jealousy

_A/N: Getting there ... slowly. Just be a bit pateint  
_

* * *

Of course Kevin Lynch needed to create drama where no drama should need to be. And how he found out about Morgan staying at her place was something she didn't even want to know. She knew she didn't tell him, and neither did Morgan. Why should he?

So how on earth did Kevin find out about Derek spending the night? Not that she had to explain herself. Why should she? If he had a problem, which he of course had, it was his problem, and not hers. Fact was that Kevin's constant picking of fights with her had started driving her insane. And it wasn't just that. Lately she had started seeing a lot of things somehow going towards a wrong direction in their relationship. Especially after her dinner with Morgan.

How was it that her own boyfriend didn't seem to understand the simplest principles when it came to how to treat your girlfriend and a date, but her best friend didn't seem to have any problem with managing to do all the right things? And Derek was just her best friend, so there was no need to treat her any different than one of his buddies.

Come to think of it Penelope had to realize that over the years she had seen probably all bad and horrible habits with Kevin Lynch. From making jokes that weren't funny- but you had to laugh or he'd end up sulking for weeks- to eating habits that made every five year old look better behaved or biting his toe nails. Morgan she had known at least three times longer than Kevin and she had never actually seen _any_ bad habit. Apart from his constant change in female companions. But that was not entirely his fault, but also the girls, who just … were too easy and therefore bored him pretty quickly. If they wouldn't give out as quickly as they did, he actually might stick around longer. Not that she would ever share that bit of information with anyone.

And maybe Kevin had just grown too comfortable with her. Maybe she just needed to … spice things up a bit, show him that he shouldn't take her for granted all the time and she technically could have someone else in a heartbeat if he didn't start cleaning up his act. Maybe a bit of a wakeup call would do wonders. And what better wakeup call then the usual Friday night drinks with the team at their favorite local bar. She knew it would take her forever talking him into, since Kevin wasn't a fan of these team nights, but she wouldn't stop till she had him convinced to come along. She'd drag him if she had to.

Her plan sounded so nice when she made it up, but somehow the conversion into reality needed a bit working on. Since nothing had really seemed to work so far. She started with the bar man when she ordered drinks, flirted a bit, threw her hair back, gave him plenty of smiles and leaned slightly forward on the counter to give him a nice view of cleavage. With Kevin standing right next to her, she would have assumed he would have gone mad by now, dragging her out of the bar before they even said hi to the rest of the team and give her some nice jealousy. But nothing. Zip. Zilch. He just stood there, looking less than impressed and then turned his attention towards a girl that had just passed them.

Frustrated about his lack of attention she paid for the drinks, her mood going slightly sour and made her way through the crowded bar, setting the glasses on the table in front of JJ and took a seat next to Morgan.

They had some sort of conversation about Morgan's latest love interest, Scarlett or something like that. Not that Penelope cared much or had any need to participate in the conversation. She needed a better plan. Someone who would spark Kevin Lynch's flame of jealousy. Big time.

Kevin eventually made it to the table as well, not talking too much and remaining rather passively between Emily and Rossi, who tried to get him into any sort of conversation, but gave up after a while. He was just not participating. A fact Penelope hated more and more every time they went out together. She loved her team like family and him showing so little interest in wanting to get along well with them or get along with them at all started to frustrate her terribly. Not that any of the others on the table really cared. All they knew was that they tried to make a step towards Kevin, but if the guy didn't want to participate it wasn't their problem but his alone.

She had just finished her latest drink when Morgan got up and ready to get her a refill, leaving her with JJ. The rest of the team had their own little conversation going on. JJ was just giving her the latest updates about Henry, when they were approached by a tall, blonde, ridiculous good looking guy, who smiled down on Penelope and within seconds her cranky mood got a lot better. Maybe _that_ guy would get Kevin Lynch fired up.

He was cute, single and interested. And that was as far as Penelope was concerned all she needed to know. They got into talking and there were a few strange looks from Hotch and Emily, who probably wondered what on earth she was doing when her boyfriend was just sitting a few feet away from her. Not that she cared right now, she wanted Kevin Lynch to realize a thing or two tonight.

When she saw him turn around, walking away for a moment and then started talking to a girl she certainly had to realize this wasn't going anywhere. She couldn't even get her own boyfriend jealous, what kind of loser was she by now?

Her blonde companion was rather entertaining but he wasn't serving the purspose she had in mind. Penelope was already wondering how to get out of this again. She knew it was mean, giving this guy false hope, but in the end she just wanted to make her boyfriend realize that she could have other options if she wanted to. Not that he seemed to realize that, or care for that matter. And maybe that was just the final nail in their coffin.

Morgan returned in the meantime with her new drink and when looking at him seemed somehow pissed. Great, now his mood matched at least hers. They could maybe lick each other's wounds later and be pissed at the world together. That at least sounded like a good plan for tonight.

He placed the drinks in front of Penelope, before sliding back onto the stood next to her, looking the blonde guy up and down for a moment, his expression not changing one bit. Penelope would have expected surprise from her best friend at least. Surprise that she was obviously flirting with this guy when her boyfriend was – correction, used to be - sitting on the other side of the table, but he looked even madder than before.

"She is taken, Blondie," he finally said, surprising Penelope. The way he said it, his statement sounded more like a threat than a fact. Turning to face him she saw even more surprised to see him nearly glaring that guy down. That was the kind of reaction she has expected from Kevin. Morgan was pretty good at that, maybe he could teach Kevin a thing or two in regards of this.

Fact was that Penelope wasn't entirely sure what was going on or what to think. She knew Morgan became slightly overprotective around her when they went out, but so far that had only happened when her boyfriend wasn't around. Now with him around, or actually gone for a moment, he would usually take the backseat and maybe make a sarcastic comment about Kevin himself, but certainly not get as overprotective as now. And actually, it wasn't even overprotection, he already seemed nearly territorial.

She felt an arm all of a sudden reaching around her shoulders, pulling her closer to Morgan and with that her blonde stranger took off all of a sudden, without another word, or even another look back. Something definitely was going on, that was for sure.

"Come on, Baby Girl let's dance," Morgan all of a sudden announced, getting up and reaching for her hand.

"But I haven't finished my drink yet," Penelope protested, at which he just turned around and glared at her for a moment or two.

"Finish it later," he nearly barked, before dragging her up and towards the dance floor.

_Interesting._


	13. Fight me

_A/N: Thank you all for these really wonderful and fabolous reviews. They made me smile so much. I love how you all seem to hate Lynch and just want Morgan simply go and get her. LOL Also... there will be a warning for this and the next chapter. There will be violence - althought not very graphic - in it, I just ... went that way. LOL And Lynch gets really ... ugly. Also, kudos to my dear friend KricketWilliams, who actually made a few suggestions about the end scene, to make it more ... believable.  
_

* * *

She wasn't a fan of dancing. At all. And Morgan knew that.

Though she loved _watching_ him, there had never been a real desire to participate actively. She had seen him move and get his groove on before and knew there was no way on earth she could even start matching those moves without making a total fool of herself. But the way he held her hand right now, pulled her further into the bar and onto the dance floor there was no doubt that no excuse or complaining would get her out of this. Tonight was the night.

He turned around halfway, to face her, pulling her in and bringing his arms up around her. Pulling her within seconds even closer, so that she was pressed tightly against him, Penelope had to realize there was no way out of this, and away from him. She had always wondered what it would feel like to be pressed this tight against Derek Morgan, had seen it several times from her safe spot on a bar stool when she watched her best friend getting on his moves with yet another interest. Now she experienced it first hand and she had to admit it felt damn good.

He moved slow. Sensual. Sexual nearly, giving her a nice pace to work with. Not that she had too much to do, since them being pressed so tight together was making it nearly impossible for her to not move when he moved. And maybe this whole dancing thing wasn't so bad come to think of it. He grinded his hips into hers, moved his leg between hers and she felt his hand roam up and down her back, pressing her ever so slightly further into him. And _this_ certainly was feeling a lot better than she had ever imagined.

Penelope didn't really listen to the music, didn't know whether it was a slow or quick song, didn't even care what they sung or whether they were the only ones on that dance floor, because right now, for her, all that she cared about was him moving her sensual to the soft beats coming out of some speakers far, far away.

He moved her head closer in, making her inhale all the scent that was Derek Morgan. And never before had she been so aware of it. So aware of how wonderful he smelled. It wasn't just his after shave or cologne, it was something that was so truly him she could become addicted to it. She wrapped her arms around his torso, noticing how he all of a sudden seemed to relax. She turned her head slightly, having it rested against his well toned chest and taking another two, three deep breaths of him, wondering why she had never noticed this before?

When Morgan turned her around for a moment she could see out of the corner of her eye that Kevin was on his way over to them and he looked less than amused. Finally she got a reaction out of him, something she had been trying to achieve the whole night. So why did she feel kind of sad that off all the moments to go jealous he would have to choose this one? She had a really good time, and enjoyed being here with her best friend. But looking at her boyfriend, this was certainly over now.

He stepped in, tapping on Penelope's shoulder – as if she wouldn't have noticed him right away, given she and Morgan were by now the only people left dancing.

"I think we better go now, Penny," she heard Kevin saying and was barely able to keep herself from rolling her eyes. She hated that name. It made her always feel like she was five again and no one took her really seriously. Of course she had told Kevin, but he nevertheless kept using it, saying he thought it was cute. It might have been cute, but nevertheless made her feel stupid.

"I …" she started, looking at Morgan for a long moment. "Give me a moment," she finally gave in. It was what she wanted. A reaction from him. So now that she got it she couldn't complain. She turned around, wanting to get her coat and purse when she heard Kevin going on, this time addressing Morgan.

"And you? You stay away from her from now on. She is _my_ girlfriend. And I am getting sick of you always dancing around her like you do. Get a girlfriend yourself so you won't need mine."

"If you would have done your job properly tonight I wouldn't have had to step in, to keep these guys away from her," she heard Morgan talking back and he sounded annoyed. Something she hadn't seen or heard in a long time.

"She nevertheless is my girlfriend, so back off," was Kevin's reply. And this could turn ugly.

"Well, if you keep it up like that not for too much longer." Morgan didn't seem to have any desire to back down the slightest. Usually he would never pick a fight but tonight everything was possible.

"I'll warn you one last time: back off of my girlfriend," Kevin replied, his voice angry, but when it would come to the worst, he would lose. He held nothing compared to Morgan. And was she actually enjoying this? What was wrong with her?

She didn't know exactly what brought the change on in her boyfriend, but she knew that there was no way that Derek Morgan would just sit back and let that go. He usually was rather rational and logic, but that all somehow stopped when being confronted with Kevin. And she should remain right when Morgan started his comeback.

"Your girlfriend? You don't own Penelope. Why for once don't you let her decide what she wants? A piece of shit like you or a real man."

Morgan at this point was angry, but somehow still remained calm.

"She did decide once before, and she chose me." Kevin smiled, a nasty, greasy smile Penelope never saw from him before. "So tell me, Agent Morgan: who's the piece of shit?"

Maybe she should step in, end this before this all went too far, but before she got back to them it was already too late.

Instead of Morgan answering to Kevin Lynch's comment she saw his fist coming Kevin's way. _Oh dear._

She started the night with a boyfriend who didn't seem to care and didn't get any sort of reaction out of him whenever she initiated flirting with another guy. But now, as the night came to an end she had two guys fighting over her? What on earth had changed? And before she could even finish that thought she saw it, saw her best friend how she had never seen him before, hauling of and punching Kevin Lynch, who stumbled backwards, shocked about what Morgan just did and held his nose, which was already bleeding. What the hell was going on?


	14. The end of you and me

_A/N: I am actually shocked to see how happy violence against Lynch made people. Anyway, warning again for this chapter. Some more violence... But than it's over. Promise. Also ... we are nearly there. Only 3 chapters left after this one.  
_

* * *

When he realized what he had done Penelope could see Morgan standing there shocked for a moment. That moment didn't last too long, since Kevin decided to not have any of this and hauled forward punching Morgan twice, at which the chocolate colored man took in a sharp breath of air. Only a moment later Penelope knew why. One of the two blows from Kevin had hit his just freshly healed graze from a few weeks ago. The other one hit him right across the face. That showed how completely unprepared Morgan must have been. A guy that teaches self-defense wouldn't have been easy to hit.

Penelope, not sure what to do, did the only thing that came to her mind, stepping in and bringing these two apart. Something she quickly came to realize was a stupid idea. Kevin was so in rage he actually hit her as well, by accident of course, but it was nevertheless no less painful than if it had been deliberate. Emily, who was the only one left of the rest of the team had by now managed her way over to them as well, joining the few other people that had been left at the bar.

She felt worried about Morgan, knowing it was definitely no coincidence that her dear boyfriend hit Morgan at exactly that spot. What a new low point. Of course she didn't expect that when getting between these two she would get a beating as well. Although it was just a glancing blow and could have been worse. Still Penelope's head now felt like there was another major migraine coming up.

"What are you guys doing?" Emily asked shocked as she walked up to Penelope who held a hand against her cheek in an attempt to ease the pain a bit.

_That_ would leave bruise, for sure. Yes she had wanted a bit of a jealous reaction from her boyfriend, but _this_ certainly was way too much even for her to handle. Way out of line. Not that Morgan's reaction was any better, especially since he hit first. But still … for whatever reason she was more mad at Kevin Lynch than at Derek Morgan.

"What is your problem?" she finally asked Kevin, who looked slightly taken aback.

"My problem? " he yelled, not caring who of them around would actually hear him. "He," Kevin went on, pointing towards Derek, "started it. He hit me first. The wannabe tough FBI agent who can have everyone hit me first," Kevin whined.

And of course he would. Somehow she had a feeling that if it had been the other way around and Kevin would have hit first, Morgan wouldn't have gone for a similar statement. It was just Kevin's nature to always blame someone else. And this time he might have been right blaming someone else, but it still didn't make her less mad.

"If you wouldn't have gone … all idiot and yelled at him, telling him to stay away from me and saying the things you said, he might not have reacted that way," Penelope argued, probably surprising all three of them, Emily, Kevin and Morgan. She knew it didn't make any sense, the way that she chose Morgan's side, and she herself couldn't explain it really either, she just … felt like she had to and it was the right decision. Of course her explanation didn't make any sense. She basically defended Morgan's physical reaction, by telling Kevin he triggered it with some words he said.

"So now it's my fault?" Kevin replied, looking he didn't believe what was going on. And he certainly wasn't the only one wondering.

"In one way or another yes," was Penelope's simple answer. From the corner of her eyes she could see Emily walking back towards Morgan, a napkin with some ice on it in her hands.

At her response Kevin wasn't able to say anything for a few moments. "The whole night I had to watch and sit around, being around your colleagues, who I honestly couldn't care less about and when you took off with him … I am supposed to sit back and watch? I don't really care for these people the least, and I definitely don't care for Derek Morgan. I told you ages ago to break contact to him, that he was way too close to you, but you never listened," he was back at yelling.

Penelope didn't know what was more annoying. The fact that he simply triggered with Morgan, but didn't react to any of the other guys, or that he honestly just said he couldn't care less about the BAU team. They were her family and he saying he couldn't care less for them was like another slap in her face, probably more painful than the actual slap only a few moments ago. But before she could say anything Kevin went on.

"It was always 'Morgan here' and 'Morgan there'. He is your best friend. Wake up, Penny, he will never want you the way you want him. For him, you will only be another lay, an easy fuck, and let's admit it, we both know you are easy when it come to that, seeing how our first date went. I'm tired of always being second. I could have had someone way better years ago, but stuck with you, the idiot that I was."

Before he even could really finish that sentence, Penelope felt being slightly pushed away and Morgan punching Lynch once more. Kevin stumbled to the floor. Paralyzed about the new side of his personality that she had just witnessed come out of her soon to be ex-boyfriend, Penelope stood there in shock, her body numb of any emotion.

"I swear to God, if you ever should just think of getting close to …" she heard Morgan starting. Penelope stepped forwards, rested her hand on his shoulder and saw him turn towards her. She slowly shook her head at him, signalizing him she thought Kevin Lynch wasn't worth any of this. Then she faced Kevin, who still laid on the floor

"I think you better leave now," was all Penelope could say. She actually wanted to slap him herself now, but knew it wouldn't be the solution to anything. Instead she turned around facing Morgan, who looked like he took a good beating. Oh God, he didn't hold back now, did he? Not that this made things any better, but it would explain a thing or two, like why Lynch wasn't beaten to a pulp, like Morgan easily could have done.

He was holding the napkin with the ice from Emily against his chin. Penelope moved her hand against it and held it for him, moving it up and down a bit, lifting it off his skin occasionally.

"I'm sorry," he said, making her look at him in surprise.

"It's okay, no worries," she told him, knowing she would need to reassure him a bit more before he really would believe it. He would probably feel bad and guilty now for forever. She knew Morgan hated violence and the only time he actually didn't feel guilty about getting violent was when he was tackling an Unsub or using a bit more force than necessary, but these were the only times. Any other time he would become almost a pacifist, which always amused her to no content.

She felt his hand covering hers, pressing the napkin a bit closer against his skin, before he moved his hand under her chin, making her look up at him.

"And he is an absolute moron. You deserve way better than him. And trust me, he is certainly not the best and there is no way he can find someone better than you, because there is no one better out there," he spoke softly.

She smiled at him for a moment, covering his hand under her chin with hers.

"Are you alright, Baby Girl?" she heard him asking after a moment of silence, visibly flinching when his eyes fell on what already felt like the biggest bruise she ever sported, his hand leaving hers and stroking softly over her temple, barely touching her skin, afraid he might cause her pain.

"I'll be," she reassured him, before adding "And don't say you're sorry." She smiled at him for a moment, knowing that he was about to say it.

"Are you guys alright?" she heard Emily asking. She looked concerned at both of them for a moment.

"Give us a few days of taking care of each other and we will be," she smiled at Emily, before smiling at Morgan, who returned her smile.

This night definitely turned out a lot different than she would ever have come up with in her wildest imagination. Without boyfriend, an upcoming headache from hell and a best friend who would probably fidget around her for days now, ridden with guilt about tonight were none of the things she had seen as tonight's outcome when she had planned to trigger Kevin's jealousy.


	15. wrong end of the deal

_A/N: Should I be worried about how very much most liked the violence in the last two chapters? LOL _

_Warning: There will be an itsy bitsy tiny bit of angst in the chapter and the beginning of the next. But nothing bad. I'll Promise.  
_

* * *

The drive over to Morgan's was a quiet one. Neither of them spoke and Penelope was having a hard time to not reach over and stroke a hand over the slowly visible bruise on Morgan's cheek.

She was still somehow mad at both of the men. But she had to admit that her sitting with Morgan right now, on their way home, said more than anything else could about whose side she had taken. Not that it really mattered right now.

"He is an idiot," Morgan finally broke the silence. His words made her jerk her head up, wondering what he meant.

"Because he hit you?" she laughed nervously.

Some of the words Kevin had said stung more than the slap she got, when trying to stop them and he hit her by accident. She never thought he would have such an opinion about her, and saying it in front of people that were her friends was the worst of this all. Not that his words would have been any less painful when being said in privacy, between her and him with no one around to hear.

Morgan laughed at Penelope's question for a second, before she heard what sounded like a wince coming from him. Kevin really had hit him good. He never would have thought that the guy would have it in him. But Morgan knew better now.

"No, not because of that. But because who would ever leave someone like you and seriously think he can find anyone better. There is no one better. And don't even get me started on the whole night and his stupid behavior. I mean … if I was that boyfriend of yours I would have already made sure you know who you are with right when you started with the bar guy," Morgan announced, making Penelope look at him.

"You saw that?" she asked surprised, not thinking he would have.

"I have eyes," he smiled at her softly, before turning his eyes back on the road. "Plus… it wasn't hard to miss. And that blonde guy came over. Lynch didn't even flinch, he just … ignored it all, like it wasn't happening."

"That is just … Kevin," she sighed after a few moments, getting Morgan's attention once more.

"Doesn't sound too good to me, cupcake."

Penelope shrugged, "I don't know, it was just … I don't know. It was a good relationship, just … the end could have been a bit different."

"This whole relationship should have been different," Morgan mumbled, making her look at him once more.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, from everything you told me … this relationship was more…, I don't even know what it was, but trust me, a proper relationship shouldn't be based on the girl being left unsatisfied. And don't even argue it … you were unsatisfied."

Penelope looked at him for a few long moments. She knew her best friend well enough to know that he wasn't just referring to their activities and commitment to each other – or rather his to her – but also to the sexual component. Although Penelope wasn't entirely certain how Morgan could possibly have known. She never really told him if she should have been sexually unsatisfied.

"I wasn't … unsatisfied," she argued, but avoiding looking at Morgan.

"Sure, honey," he answered sarcastically, knowing full well that she was lying.

Before she could respond the car came to a sudden stop and Penelope realized they were in front of Derek's place.

Jogging around the car, he made it to the passenger door and opened it before Penelope could do it. Helping her out of the car he threw her another smile, knowing she would sooner or later reply, probably with one of their usual heated comebacks.

They just made it through the door when she turned towards him, getting out of her coat and discarding it over the couch. However Morgan was left surprised when she didn't reply with one of her usual feisty comebacks, but rather a question.

"What makes you think he left me … well that I was unsatisfied in my relationship with Kevin?" she asked, making Morgan look at her surprised. He had expected her to argue now for hours, giving him a list as of why she wasn't unsatisfied, not to ask what made him to get to such a conclusion.

He smiled at her for a moment, making Penelope slightly nervous.

"Well, for starters when was the last time he took you out? Just you and him, and it was his idea?" Morgan asked and waited for Penelope to answer. The last time she could really remember was at least half a year ago. If not even longer. Not that she would be saying this to Morgan. He already had this arrogant little smile all over his face, telling her that he knew the answer to his own question already.

When she still seemed to be thinking after a few moments Morgan just nodded. "See that's one. What about … spontaneous ideas, things, surprises?"

"Kevin isn't really … spontaneous," Penelope tried to argue. It was a fact she had learned to live with by now.

"And don't let me even start with the sex. Because … I am certain, that if he didn't even manage to get the basics in a relationship right, he probably didn't even come anywhere close to get you off," was Morgan's next argument. And there he was wrong. She got off, maybe not the way or as often as Morgan was going for, but not everyone can be Derek Morgan.

Derek went on "He forgot your birthday once at least. I know that for sure since you told me. And don't let me mention your anniversaries. How many of the three has he managed to forget?" he asked, getting up and walking towards the kitchen, asking if she wanted anything to drink.

"Two," Penelope answered weakly to his first question, her head bowed. This wasn't what she had expected from tonight. She actually hadn't expected anything from tonight. Apart from her boyfriend going jealous and actually giving her a feeling of belonging in one way or another again. But said boyfriend was now her ex-boyfriend and instead of getting a certain feeling of belonging she now felt like the biggest loser, with her best friend doing little to nothing to change that anytime soon.

She needed to get out of here, getting a clear head. So she got her coat and left, walking down the streets towards her place. It was quite some way and she could have called herself a cab probably, but didn't want to. The fresh air did her good and helped her clear her head a bit. And after a few hundred feet the first tears started rolling down her eyes. She couldn't help it. But after a night in which she lost her boyfriend and was told by her best friend that she was dumb for being with Lynch in the first place, who could really blame her? This really wasn't how she wanted this all to go.


	16. Rainy Confessions

_A/N: Okay, let me just get this straight? You all love Morgan for punching Lynch to a pulp, but then you hate him for something he didn't even do? O-kay, definitely interesting...  
_

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Morgan had been in his kitchen just for a few moments, getting himself a beer and a glass of water for his best friend. Penelope hadn't really answered whether she wanted something to drink, but he nevertheless brought her a glass as well. Or maybe he should give her a harder drink, something to her Penelope to stomach what had happened earlier tonight.

Morgan still was angry with Lynch, but not for what he said to him about Morgan, but about his Baby Girl. What a moron. In Morgan's book Lynch was the real idiot, for letting someone like Penelope go in the first place. If that would be Morgan, he would have made sure that Penelope would know every single day how important, cherished and loved she was. And maybe, with Lynch out of the picture, it was time for Morgan to make his move.

Getting back into the living room he noticed Penelope not being there any longer. Her coat was gone from the sofa. Maybe she had just went to bed? She would usually tell him, but then again with a night like today and given that it was rather late already she might have just gotten tired.

"Penelope?" he asked softly down the hall and after checking the downstairs spare room and the bathroom, he went upstairs, wondering if she may be settled down in of the rooms upstairs. She wasn't upstairs either and Morgan started to worry. Where was she?

Calling her cell on his way down again his eyes fell on the shoes in his hallway, or rather on the pair of shoes that was missing. He knew for a fact that she had taken her shoes of when she came in, but her shoes were no longer there. Did she leave? Why?

Before he could answer any of these two questions on his mind he was already on his way out, keys in hand and started the car before he was even fully inside.

By now it had started raining and when he managed to get maybe half of the way between his and Penelope's place done it started like there was no tomorrow. He passed someone walking on the sidewalk and thought to himself _Poor thing_ since there was no way to not be soaked to the bones after just a few steps. When taking a second glance he had to realize that the person was Penelope. Getting his car to an abrupt halt, not caring that he blocked an entire lane, he jumped outside, making his way over to his best friend.

"Baby Girl, what are you doing walking in the rain?" was the first thing he asked.

She turned around to face him and despite the heavy rain and her being soaked he could see she had been crying. A fact that got him immediately more concerned.

"Did anything happen?" he asked panicked, before adding "Did Lynch call?" in what could only be described as an upset voice.

"No," she only answered, bringing her hands up to her cheeks and wiping away the water and the tears, which by now had mixed with each other. "And why would he? Or why would I actually run out of your place to run to him? But wait, the dumb person I am, I probably would. Since I am stupid enough to stay with him in the first place," she cried again, and Morgan made a step or two until he stood in front of her.

There was some honking in the background, signaling to Morgan that his car was still blocking the street, but he couldn't care less at this moment. _This_ with Penelope was way more important right now than some stupid traffic issue.

Framing her face with both his hands, he used his thumbs to wipe away the fresh tears, and looked at her with a somewhat confused and questioning expression. "I don't know why you would ever think you are stupid, since you are next to Reid one of the most intelligent people I ever met, but I still don't understand why you just took off like that and left."

"It is clear to me that you … that you think I'm stupid for staying with Kevin for so long," she sobbed some more and by now Morgan had her in his arms, pressed tightly against him, wetting his shirt. Not that it wasn't already wet due to the massive rain.

"I … I never said, meant, indicated that you are or were stupid for staying with Lynch. If anything it was adorable on a very weird level that you stuck to him for so long even though he was so wrong for you. For me … there are two stupid people in this equation…" Morgan smiled softly down on her and could see she was about to cry again. "And neither of these two is you, Baby Girl."

That got him a confused look from Penelope.

"I … I don't understand … what…. what two people?"

Morgan once more smiled at her for a moment, seeing like he would think about something.

"Well for one Kevin Lynch, for being so stupid on letting you go, not even trying to keep you, not even having any sort of effort to make this relationship work the right way…" Morgan explained, wiping away another tear with his thumbs.

"And the second person?" Penelope asked cautiously.

"The second person?" Morgan asked back. "The second person would be me, gorgeous."

"I … I think I can't follow you, Hot Stuff."

"I'm so stupid, because I didn't do this a lot sooner," he said, and before Penelope could ask what he meant he bent down and captured her lips with his, taking a first taste of his best friend. The rain was still pouring down on them like mad and the he could still hear car horns blaring in the background but he didn't care for any of it.

All he cared for was the woman in his arms and the lips that were tightly pressed against his. A few moments later he felt her responding, opening he lips so he could slip inside, explore her in new ways and finally move them on a whole new level. A level they should have been on years ago.


	17. All things end well

_A/N: I should mention a few things: First .. this chapter was originially intended as M rating, but I somehow couldn't get myself to write an explicit. Just ... sometimes these scenes are not supposed to be written, ya know? And there won't be any new story anytime soon. Since I actually needed to finish one of teh tons of stories I am writting on at the moment. There might be oneshots every now and then, but I can't say when of how many. _

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For a long while they just stood there in the middle of the rain, kissing and holding on to each other. It all just stopped when Penelope had to sneeze a few times, interrupting the kissing effectively.

"I guess I better get you home, Baby Girl, before you get all sick," he smiled down on her, stealing another kiss

Penelope returned his smile with one of her own before answering. "Take me home, Hot Stuff, and show me how it always should have been," she smiled daringly at him, before wrapping her arms around him quickly and hugging him close.

A short drive later they made it back to his place and Penelope was certain they probably broke one or two speed limits. But right now she couldn't really care.

"We have to get you out of these wet clothes, Gorgeous, before you catch anything," he stated between kisses, once they made it inside the house. His hands were already on the hem of her shirt, pushing the fabric slowly up, exposing skin to him he had been waiting forever to touch.

When he managed to get her out of her shirt the jeans had to go next. His hand worked quick and efficient until he had her out of her clothes and she was just standing in front of him in her underwear.

Breaking the kiss reluctantly and with a lot of willpower he went to the bathroom, getting a couple of towels he could wrap her up in, drying her off and heating her up a bit.

"You know, given that you are so concerned for my well being what kind of friend would I be if I myself get dry, but you keep standing in front of me dripping water and being all soaked yourself. I think the 'no clothes' policy should be applied to both of us," she laughed, her hand tugging softly at his turtleneck, which was gone within seconds and Morgan standing in front of her like the god he was in her eyes.

It honestly should be illegal to look that good. And once they moved to that next stage of their friendship she wasn't sure how she would ever be able to look at him again and not drool. She had of course seen him shirtless before, on several occasions actually but somehow it was different. Back then she felt guilty when staring, knowing he was her best friend and she shouldn't be checking him out, taking advantage of the situation, not that he probably minded much, after all … being built like that he was probably expecting some sort of reactions. But now, with this all being hopefully all hers and hers alone she shouldn't need to feel guilty anymore, she should…

"Penelope, you still with me?" she heard him asking all of a sudden, a huge grin on his handsome face, telling her he probably knew where her thoughts had gone off to.

"Oh trust me, sugar, I wouldn't want to be anywhere else right now," she purred towards him before closing the gap between him and her, sealing his lips in another kiss. Hooking her fingers in the loopholes of Morgan's jeans she pulled him even closer and there was a moan from both of them at the first skin on skin contact.

"Good to know," he smiled against her neck, kissing his way up and down, getting a few more moans as answer.

The towels he had wrapped her up in landed on the floor with the first step he took with her towards his master bedroom upstairs. He pulled her softly with him, letting his lips continue their exploration in the meantime.

"Shouldn't we get you wrapped up in a couple of those as well?" Penelope asked, pointing towards the general direction of where the towels last were seen.

Morgan let his lips leave her neck for a short moment, looking up towards the heap of towels and then at her with a smirk. "What's the point to get all dry and clean, when I plan on being all sweaty and dirty shortly anyway?" he asked her, laughing wickedly and making her laugh with him as well.

"Good point," she agreed, before pulling his lips on hers again and continuing their way up his stairs which turned out more difficult, especially since Morgan refused to remove his lips from her.

Penelope had to admit she loved the devotion and attention and somehow it all was all different to previous experiences with other guys. Especially not like anything she ever had experienced with Lynch. But that didn't surprise her much. She always knew that Morgan knew how to touch a woman, how to treat them, how to make love to them. He had a certain reputation after all, one that probably was justified. The things he could do with his hands and lips alone left her craving for more, and they hadn't even made it to the really good part yet.

Making it finally to his bedroom – although they nearly fell once or twice on their way – it didn't take too long for Morgan to show her just how right she had been about his qualities as a lover as well.

They got married only three months after that night, knowing it was rather quick, but nothing had ever felt so right in their lives as sharing a life with each other.

**-*-*-*-*-*-THE END-*-*-*-*-*-**


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